CITY LIGHTS

Word spreads that Nick Moore has left San Francisco for good, leaving Maggie Laurent struggling to keep the Moore Detective Agency afloat. Cops, the D.A., and the other private detectives in town all predict she’ll be out of business by Christmas, and she’s not sure they aren’t right. Then one day, her silent partner, Dickie Vance, invites her to lunch. He has a job for her. Find out what’s going on with Herman Peters, Dickie’s favorite cab driver and one of the “Nob Hill Irregulars” that feeds him gossip on the city’s elite.

During their weekly boxing lesson, Maggie learns that Herman’s fiancée, Vera Kowalski, has dumped him and tasks Maggie with finding out why. This simple request leads Maggie deep into the world of labor unrest, the IWW, the Sedition Act, and into the arms of one of Herman’s friends, a charming-as-hell Irishman. As the state gubernatorial election draws near, the city brass will pull out the stops to ensure that San Francisco remains peaceful for the next few months, even as the aftermath of the stock market crash begins to bite—and bite hard. Banks start foreclosing on homes, families sleep in their cars, men sleep on the sidewalks, soup lines begin to form, and the rumblings of union busting get louder. When this powder keg of unrest explodes with the arrival of Pinkerton operatives, the chain reaction of murder and violence threatens the lives of union members, cops—and Maggie herself.

. . .

"Pairing the best of San Francisco’s noir traditions with the moxie of quick-witted detective Maggie Laurent, Claire M. Johnson’s second offering in the Fog City Noir series delivers in spades. Here's hoping there will be many more cases to come."

—Margaret Dumas, author of the Movie Palace Mystery Series,

Speak Now, How To Succeed in Murder, and The Balance Thing

"Johnson had me with the setting of City Lights: San Francisco after the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Spunky heroine Maggie Laurent learns to defend herself—just in time—as her latest case propels her into the dangerous world of union busting. Johnson’s smooth writing, laced with noir patter, sails the plot along in this delightful continuation of the Fog City Noir Mystery Series."

~ Vinnie Hansen, author of the Carol Sabala Mystery Series,

One Gun, and Crime Writer

"Claire Johnson’s City Lights brings the labor unrest of the early 20th century to vivid life. In this rough and tumble setting Maggie Laurent is coming into her own as a smart, independent woman who is determined to live life her way. Highly recommended."

~Terry Shames, Macavity-award winning author of the Samuel Craddock Series and the Jessie Madison Thriller Series